Effective immediately

Author Unknown
Jul 21, 2006

Effective immediately, please be aware that there are changes you need to make in your life. These changes need to be completed in order that I may fulfill my promises to you to grant you peace, joy and happiness in this life.

1. QUIT WORRYING.
Life has dealt you a blow and all you do is sit and worry. Have you forgotten that I am here to take all your burdens and carry them for you? Or do you just enjoy fretting over every little thing that comes your way?

2. PUT IT ON THE LIST.
Something needs to be done or taken care of. Put it on the list. No, not YOUR list Put it on MY to-do list. Let ME be the one to take care of the problem. I can’t help you until you turn it over to me. And although my to-do list is long, I am after all, God. I can take care of anything you put into my hands. In fact, I take care of a lot of things that you never even realize.

3. TRUST ME.
Once you’ve given your burdens to me, quit trying to take them back. Trust in me. Have the faith that I will take care of all your needs, your problems and your trials. Problems with the kids? Put them on my list. Problem with finances? Put it on my list. Problems with your emotional roller coaster? For my sake, put it on MY list. I want to help you. All you have to do is ask.

4. LEAVE IT ALONE.
Don’t wake up one morning and say, “Well, I’m feeling much stronger now, I think I can handle it from here.” Why do you think you are feeling stronger now? It’s simple. You gave me your burdens and I’m taking care of them. I also renew your strength and cover you in my peace. Don’t you know that if I give you these problems back, you will be right back where you started? Leave them with me and forget about them. Just let me do my job.

5.TALK TO ME.
I want you to forget a lot of things. Forget what was making you crazy. Forget the worry and the fretting because you know I’m in control. But there’s one thing I pray you never forget. Please don’t forget to talk to me – OFTEN! I love you. I want to hear your voice. I want you to include me in on the things going on in your life. I want to hear you talk about your friends and family. Prayer is simply you having a conversation with me. I want to be your dearest friend.

6. HAVE FAITH.
I see a lot of things from up here that you can’t see from where you are. Have faith in me that I know what I’m doing. I will continue to care for you, watch over you, and meet your needs. You only have to trust me.

7.SHARE.
You were taught to share when you were only two years old. When did you forget? That rule still applies. Share with those who are less fortunate than you. Share your joy with those who need encouragement. Share your laughter with those who haven’t heard any in such a long time. Share your tears with those who have forgotten how to cry. Share your faith with those who have none.

8. BE PATIENT.
I managed to fix it so in just one lifetime you could have so many diverse experiences. You grow from a child to an adult, have children, change jobs many times, learn many trades, travel to so many places, meet thousands of people, and experience so much. How can you be so impatient then when it takes me a little longer than you expect to handle something on my to-do-list? Trust in my timing, for my timing is perfect. Just because I created the entire universe in only six days, everyone thinks I should always rush, rush, rush.

9. BE KIND.
Be kind to others, for I love them just as much as I love you. They may not dress like you, or talk like you, or live the same way you do, but I still love you all. Please try to get along, for my sake. I created each of you different in some way. It would be too boring if you were all identical. Please know I love each of your differences.

10. LOVE YOURSELF.
As much as I love you, how can you not love yourself? You were created by me for one reason only – to be loved, and to love in return. I am a God of Love. Love me. Love your neighbors. But also love yourself. It makes my heart ache when I see you so angry with yourself when things go wrong. Yo u are very precious to me. Don’t ever forget that!

With all my heart I love you,
Your Heavenly Father

Source:  The_Daily_Encourager -subscribe@MyInJesus.com

Spiritual fitness

Via the London Institute for Contemporary Christianity

If readers of Connecting with Culture are typical of the British population – and surely they are?! – then around a thousand will be members of a gym. (And if they are really typical, most of them will rarely use their membership.)

Gym membership has grown significantly in Britain over recent years, even if 30 minutes on a treadmill remains a nicer idea in theory than in practice. We join gyms, often after Christmas overindulgence, to look better, feel healthier and to be able to do those things that previously left us gasping for breath.

At the same time, the re-emergence of ‘the spiritual’ over recent years – albeit often in bizarre or self-obsessed forms – testifies to our growing disenchantment with disenchantment. We are more than bodies, even if those bodies are gloriously tanned and toned.

This leaves something of a gap in the market, explored by a new book entitled Spiritual Fitness.

Where can we go today to get spiritually fit? Plenty of places offer classes on meditation but where would you go if you wanted to learn patience, forgiveness, faithfulness, self-control or humility?

How about church? The idea will seem ridiculous to many (including many churchgoers) but it is not, as the author Graham Tomlin notes, too far removed from the New Testament’s vision of what a church should be.

Exercise is a favourite metaphor in the epistles and throughout its history the Church has, albeit sporadically, taken seriously the challenge to help people develop the heart, mind and life of Christ, through training and discipline.

This raises some questions, not least how you reconcile the call to spiritual fitness with a gospel of grace, but Tomlin addresses these by revisiting some of the more fraught debates of Christian history.

Is this the answer to declining church attendance? Yes and no. Any attempt to turn churches into spiritual fitness centres simply to up their membership are destined to fail as hollow PR initiatives.

But if, as Tomlin writes, ‘local churches were capable of enabling people to acquire the qualities that reflect the nature of God, if they became known as places where you could learn how to love, to trust, to hope, to forgive, to gain wisdom for life, then they might begin to be attractive, perhaps even necessary, places to belong to.’

That’s a challenge – but it’s no more daunting that the thought of half an hour on a treadmill.

Nick Spencer

additional resources

For more details about Spiritual Fitness, visit www.continuumbooks.com.

For details about Graham’s book The Provocative Church, visit spck.org.uk.

Tomlin mentions in the book ‘Renovare’, which offers a programme for the practice of spiritual disciplines in small groups: visit renovare.org.